My Firecracker Neighborhood

When my husband and I first looked at a house in our neighborhood fourteen years ago, it wasn’t the actual house that convinced us to make an offer. It was the sense of community, embodied in events like this…

On Independence Day, every kid in the neighborhood, plus lots of grandchildren on vacation, gather at the beach for the annual Fourth of July Bike Parade. It’s serious business, led by a fire truck blaring “Stars and Stripes Forever” through the bullhorn.

Kids are inducted in to the festivities at a very young age.

And this part always cracks me up… Neighbors without kids come outside with their morning coffee, line the parade route with lawn chairs, wave, and applaud when the kids ride by.